


What a time to be alive

by MyCuriosity



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Brett Yang - Freeform, Eddy Chen - Freeform, M/M, TSV, description of violence, political fic, twosetviolin - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:34:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29613660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyCuriosity/pseuds/MyCuriosity
Summary: “In or out?” he teased again, as if he would know about the clusterfuck that was inside of Brett’s head.“In,” Brett answered, sounding a whole lot more confident than he felt.“You know the password?”“Admiral.”“Good,” the stranger said satisfied and finally moved into the range of the small light illuminating the door. Brett wished he had the confidence one needed when sneaking into secret societies at night, as the other one knocked on the door.//Crosspost from Wattpad
Relationships: Eddy Chen/Brett Yang
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am slowly going to crosspost some of my better Wattpad stories to AO3 :)
> 
> Thanks a bunch to getginxed, who I was harassing to finish beta’ing the story – onca again! Lol, sorry babes.

Brett took a deep breath. And then another one. And another one. 

“You’re going in or going out?” 

Startled, Brett turned around to the figure looming behind him. In the shadows of the night, it took him a second to make out the guy who was just standing two feet away from him, daring him with a bemused raised eyebrow. 

“In or out?” he teased again, as if he would know about the clusterfuck that was inside of Brett’s head. 

“In,” Brett answered, sounding a whole lot more confident than he felt. 

“You know the password?” 

“Admiral.” 

“Good,” the stranger said satisfied and finally moved into the range of the small light illuminating the door. Brett wished he had the confidence one needed when sneaking into secret societies at night, as the other one knocked on the door. 

While the door was answered and the password exchanged, Brett took the time to study the guy next to him. 

He was young. Just as young as Brett. Which was a lot younger than he expected. Because for whatever reason, Brett expected everyone to be old. Because that’s what made sense in his head. How could anyone at their age be so blinded? 

But here stood this lad next to him, way too cute to be a bleeding racist. 

“First time?” The eyebrow was raised and directed at Brett again. 

“Yeah. Spencer invited me.” 

“Good. I like new faces. My name is Eddy.” 

A hand was pushed towards his chest at the same time as the door opened. 

Just because this whole thing screamed secret society all over, Brett had expected for the guy guarding the door to be wrapped in a black cloak, maybe with a sword or cane or so. But the man opening the door looked like his Uncle Jin, the one who had been an accountant for forty years, with glasses making him look like a dragonfly and a smile that made everyone believe the Alzheimer set in earlier than expected. 

“This way,” Eddy said and nonchalantly used the hand he had held out for Brett to guide the other inside. “It’s just straight ahead and then the second door to the left.” 

Weirdly enough, knowing that the Eddy guy was walking with him was somewhat comforting. At least it was one face he already knew. Well. Somewhat. 

Stepping through the door was still exhilarating and made him nauseous. Same as the entrance, the room was just as normal as everything about this whole building. Which made sense, because they were just in a basement of an office building. Clearly this room was used for seminars or similar, as they were a couple of rows with chairs loosely lined up. 

People stood around in groups and chatted, and just when Brett started to feel some sort of social anxiety (he usually never felt that creep up on him), Professor Spencer spotted him. 

“Brett! Glad you could make it.” 

With a friendly smile, Brett shook the Professor’s hand. 

In comparison to class this morning, the Professor looked brighter and more excited. 

“Let me introduce you to my friends.” 

What followed was a whole array of handshakes with the exact same type of people Brett had expected. 

Male. Old. Educated. 

He knew that during any public outing, there would also be people of the male, young, stupid category, but they weren’t the ones pulling the strings. 

They weren’t the ones Brett was interested in. 

The whole show started only a couple minutes later and Brett made sure to sit somewhere in the middle, not standing out for being too much at the front or the back. Hide in the crowd. 

It was pretty much what Professor Spencer said it would be like. 

People holding speeches, for various lengths. 

He carefully made sure that the small fake keychain Brett was grabbing in his hand was pointing upwards. Recording everything that was being said. 

Schooling his expression in a neutral, friendly face, he was secretly shocked about the very clear messages entailed in the talks. 

Sure, he knew the political direction from Professor Spencer, it was why he was here and he had been expecting that but… hearing it so bluntly... It was disconcerting, to say the least. 

“Caucasian children are of lesser value; their genetics and mental capacity are not as advanced. The superiority of their race has been declining for years and it is only a matter of time, until everyone will realise it. We need to snatch the opportunity at the root now! Be strict, be harsh! Laying the political groundwork now, will secure us a sound basis of action in the next decade.” 

Following that particular speech, a guy named Xiu Han stepped forward and handed out some papers beforehand to distribute. 

It was a follow-up essay to a scientific review that Brett had been handed over by Spencer before. Writing an analysis about it was what got Brett into this circle. 

The Great Dragons. 

Thoughtfully, Brett folded the paper and put it into his back, making sure he wouldn’t cause disturbances in his recording and went back to listening. 

The whole evening was tiring. After the speeches, there was some more mingling and Spencer was showing him off like his new arm candy. Maybe Brett was. 

It was exciting for the Professor to have someone young to introduce to his world. Like a novice. He had told Brett as such. 

‘An open minded individual, willing to be shaped in the way the world needs,’ Spender had said. 

And Brett made sure to play the part. He had spent the majority of the semester getting into the Professor’s good graces, and now that he had achieved his goal, he would be damned to waste his opportunity. 

“Visit us in the office someday,” someone said to him and Brett tried to remember who it was. 

Ah yes. Wei. The second in command at the Party for Taiwan and a member of parliament. 

Oh. 

“I’d be delighted.” 

“Good,” Wei said, shaking his hand again. “Let’s make that an internship. You need an internship in your political science studies, don’t you?” 

“I do, yes. I am honoured.” 

“Nonsense. We have to stick together.” 

The we made Brett’s stomach curl but he smiled on the outside. 

When he got home sometime after midnight, he felt exhausted and excited at the same time. 

Grabbing his burner phone, he sent off a text. 

“I am in. Holy fuck, I am in.” 

/ 

It was Sunday, a whole whirlwind of a week lay behind him and still, Brett’s mind wouldn’t shut up. 

He was looking through the essays and talking points he received on the night of the Great Dragon meeting whilst listening to the recordings he got. 

Opening his diary on the secured platform, he tried to summarise everything in a coherent way without missing important bits. 

He knew that he was still early on in his research but it felt like he had already so much material that his head was spinning. 

With a coffee for breakfast, he was concentrating on his work when his phone rang. 

It was his mother. 

Making sure that he didn’t sound too distracted, he answered the phone cheerfully. 

“Brett!” she responded equally cheerful, “how is work, hun? Is the publisher giving you much trouble?” 

“Oh, it is most interesting. And no, all is good mother,” he replied, rolling his eyes. 

She always worried too much. Which is why he never told her where he actually was or what he was actually doing. 

When he ended the call, he realised how hungry he was, so he assembled his notes and went two streets over to a local street food market. 

Munching on some rice, he noticed quite late the person towering over him. When he looked up, a smiling man was standing opposite of him. 

“Hi,” the guy said. “Brett, was it?” 

“It was,” Brett smiled. “Hello, Eddy. What a surprise to meet you here.” 

Very carefully, Brett tried to subtly stack his papers together, praying that the other didn’t see a word of it. That would teach him to keep his research behind closed doors. 

“The local food is rather good,” Eddy said and sat down opposite of Brett, “and not everyone can afford the fancy restaurants in uptown Taipei.” 

Albeit that was true, Eddy’s slacks and his dress shirt spoke a different story about his salary check, Brett mused but didn’t say so. 

“You are a student?” Eddy continued and thanked the kitchen lady when his food was brought over. “How old are you then?” 

“21,” Bett lied through his teeth. His genes were a curse and a blessing at the best of times, allowing him to mostly be whatever age he wanted to be, “I study Political Science.” 

“Spencer is your Ethics professor?” 

“Yeah. He’s good. Unconventional.” 

“You could say that,” Eddy replied in a carefully neutral voice. 

It was clear as day that they were both testing the water in this conversation. 

“Have you been a member for a long time?” 

It was in his job description to be an opportunist, so Brett knew when chances opened up right in front of his eyes. 

“Maybe around a year, I think,” Eddy seemed to have to think about it for a second, while chewing on his food, “yeah, that should be right. A friend of my uncle got me into it.” 

“Were you involved in the scene before?” 

“The scene?” Eddy asked, amused, raising the eyebrow. Brett cursed internally. 

“I don’t know what to call it,” feigning innocence was always a good strategy. “I’m still new to this.” 

“But you are convinced of the cause?” 

Damn it. How did the roles reverse so quickly? 

“I think that not everything is going right in our country. And I think some things need to change.” 

“Like the reduction of the Caucasian race?” 

“For example, yes.” 

With an unreadable face, Eddy studied him, ignoring his food. Brett kept his face in a slight positive feature, not giving anything away. 

“It is a good cause,” Eddy said eventually, returning his gaze to his food. When he looked up again, the scrutinising look had entirely vanished and he seemed young and open all of a sudden. 

“It’s nice that someone else my age has joined. Should we maybe get to know each other better? I found this terrible list of touristy places that anyone in Taipei possibly cannot miss,” Eddy continued. “You’re new in town, right? I barely had time to visit it myself. Shall we see if we can tick off some terrible tourist spots?” 

Surprised, Brett looked at him. 

And then smiled. 

“I’d like that.” 

/ 

They didn’t get around to tick off all fifty places the first time, but they tried the second time. And the third. They nearly finished the fourth and fifth time, if it wouldn’t have been for an unforeseen rain shower. 

By the sixth time, they started to slow down. 

By the seventh they lingered at the first sight. It was the stupid gondola to Maokong, out of all places. 

But they rode it up and down and up and down and when the sun was setting, Brett had forgotten why he had come to Taipei in the first place because Eddy thought he was a poli science student, so he was a poli science student and nothing else. 

His internship had started and he was wrapped up more than ever in this world of madness. 

Weirdly enough, Eddy and him stayed clear of that particular topic, when it was just the two of them. It was like an unspoken agreement, to not cross the subject. Except for the nights at the Great Dragons. 

Every Thursday. 

At first, Brett thought it was great that they met so regularly, because it would allow him to gather more information. 

But now he knew that being amongst the far right once per week was just messing with his head. Made him sick and somewhat detached from his usual self. 

And just when he thought he lost himself a little bit too much, Eddy would pop around, asking if he wanted to go to the 24h breakfast place from the list. On a Friday at 11pm. 

“Because I want breakfast,” was the only response he got when he inquired just why they could not go for dinner. 

Granted, Eddy looked like he had a rough day as well. He was in one of the suits he occasionally had to wear in his telecommunication firm but there were long lines on his face and bags under his eyes. His hair looked dishevelled, albeit still oddly soft. 

“You are more quiet than usual,” Eddy stated after the first few bites at the restaurant. 

“I am tired,” Brett shrugged truthfully. 

“Is it the internship? How is it going?” 

“It’s an honour,” came the automatic response. “Wei is a good teacher.” 

“Yeah? Is he treating you okay?” 

What an unusual question. Brett lifted his head and studied his opponent, who was meeting his stare with an open face. 

“He has been nothing but accommodating,” Brett eventually settled on. 

“Good,” it was the first sign of discomfort Eddy showed, clearing his throat, looking away nearly shy, “that’s good. I am sure you can learn a lot.” 

“I don’t feel up to the task,” Brett admitted, deliberately avoiding which task he was referring to. He was moody, that much he knew and he should be really careful what he revealed. 

Eddy’s face turned soft. 

“It’s just an internship.” 

“With someone from the Great Dragon.” 

“Yeah,” Eddy stole a dumpling from Brett’s plate. “It’s going to open doors for you.” 

Well, he did know that. Brett just wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know what was behind all those doors. 

“He is working on a proposal for parliament to restrict the immigration rights and policy.” 

“Based on what?” 

“Nationality, mostly,” thoughtfully, Brett chewed on one of his own dumplings, “criminal records.” 

“Sounds reasonable,” Eddy carefully supplied. 

“Yeah.” 

“What else?” 

Swallowing, Brett looked at him. 

“He intends to bring the idea for a new ministry forward.” 

Eddy’s eyebrows rose. 

“We already have a ministry for foreign affairs.” 

“Yeah. He was thinking along more of a ministry to control the foreigners in the country, not the ones intending to enter. Maybe both, eventually though.” 

With his entire forehead being one big crinkle at this point, Eddy looked ahead, but not really at Brett, clearly thinking about something. 

“Like an official section being allowed to get an insight into what everyone's doing?” 

“Everyone who is not a Taiwanese national,” Brett corrected, “or from neighbouring countries.” 

“Hm,” Eddy confirmed that he heard it, clearly lost in thought. 

“What do you think of it?” he finally asked, apparently returning his full attention back to the conversation. 

“It would be a huge undertaking,” Brett said while taking a sip of his tea, “it would take a lot of convincing.” 

“Do you think it’s constitutional?” 

Ah. One of the Great Dragons favourite topics. Was it constitutional and if not, how can you twist it to make it constitutional. 

“It would be a stretch,” Brett admitted, “it’s what I am currently working at.” 

“Digging through our constitution and trying to justify it in front of our democracy?” 

“Something like that.” 

For the rest of the evening, Eddy was weirdly distracted. And seemed tired as well. 

Apparently, they both had a shitty week. 

/ 

Dress smart, was what Wei had told him, so Brett wiggled himself into a semblance of a suit he had brought along for situations exactly like this. 

During his internship at the office, he got away with just a dress shirt or a blazer, so it felt a bit unusual to be so formal. 

There was a panel of experts discussing the future direction of the Party for Taiwan with special guests and the press invited. 

Brett had been helping Wei and Spencer to set up the evening but he was only meant to be watching from the background, not be part of the event at all. 

Looking around the room now, he could see that he wasn’t the only Great Dragon apprentice this night. 

“Glad to see I am not alone,” Eddy greeted him when Brett handed him some tea. 

“Likewise,” Brett only replied and leaned against the wall next to Eddy, sipping on his own tea. 

As always, Eddy was dressed more than adequate. Brett didn’t know what it was, but Eddy was either all suited up, looking like a BTS model in an Armani suit, or wore skinny jeans with a nerd shirt or hoodie. There was no in between. 

There was also no pattern on when he would wear what, the suit might show up on a Sunday at 10am or Wednesdays at 11pm. 

“Have you been to many evenings like this?” Brett asked after a while, when people started to settle down and get their notepads out. 

“Quite a lot. Not all of them in the parliament building, though. Some in the headquarters of the Party for Taiwan. And then obviously, there are the events solely organised by the Dragons without the political party playing any role.” 

Upon hearing that, Brett felt a bit disappointed. Obviously, podium discussions like this were interesting but he would rather be part of the more secret stuff. 

“Have you been to any events like this back in Brisbane?” Eddy returned the question. They quietly sat down in the last row as the discussion was about to start. 

“Not too many,” Brett answered and added the ‘none’ silently in his head. 

“There is a camera recording this,” Eddy continued. 

“I know. I had to set it up.” 

“Cool. You want to bail?” 

“What?” Brett nearly forgot to whisper when he turned to Eddy in surprise. 

“The tea here is shit and the parliament’s lounge upstairs is still open. You up for it?” 

Brett looked at Wei on the podium and then searched the room for Professor Spencer, who seemed occupied as well, emerged in a quiet discussion with someone Brett didn’t know. 

No one would miss him. 

“Let’s go,” he said and kind of cherished the happy smile Eddy gave him. 

The tea and coffee was indeed better in the parliament’s lounge and the company was nice as well. 

“Tell me about yourself,” Brett said when he got them both some cookies as well, “have you always lived in Taipei?” 

“Born here, but we lived in New Zealand for a couple of years. Actually, only came back after high school.” 

“And now you’re working in telecommunications?” 

“It pays the bills.” 

“Is that all you want from life?” 

“You’re quite direct, has anyone ever told you that?” Eddy laughed, not even a bit put out by the question. 

“From time to time,” Brett admitted, giving his opponent a small apologetic smile. 

“It’s all right,” Eddy answered good natured, “of course it’s not what I want forever. But it’s a good deal for now. How about you? Why did you come to study in Taipei? Two years after you finish high school..?” 

Eddy really was a bit too perceptive; it was something Brett had noticed previously. 

“Tried medicine first because my parents wanted me to. Didn’t like it and I wanted a change.” 

“Sound like you’re running away. Bad break-up?” Eddy teased. 

Sure, why not, Brett thought and said, “Something like that.” 

“Finding the Great Dragons must have been an unexpected turn of events then?” 

The tone Eddy used made Brett’s head turn to him. 

“It wasn’t unwelcome. It is very interesting.” 

“Indeed,” Eddy replied, studying him some more. 

“How about we make this a no-Great Dragons talk for the next hour?” 

“Fantastic. Do you play any instruments?” 

/ 

He was fucked. 

So fucking royally fucked. 

Brett cursed. And then cursed some more. 

And then there was a knock on his door. 

“Your friend is here,” his housemate called. 

With a sigh and another curse, Brett grabbed his bag, his jacket, and his keys, and left his room with a stone the size of a Taiwan in his stomach. 

In his living room stood Eddy and smiled when he spotted Brett. 

“Ready?” 

“A bit nervous to be honest.” 

There was no reason to deny it, and it was as good an explanation as any for the flush on his face. 

Eddy’s smile turned tender. 

“There is no need. It’s going to be completely fine.” 

There was something underlying in his tone that Brett couldn’t pinpoint entirely, but it didn’t matter when he realised that they were running late. 

They barely made it but managed to catch the train. 

“That could have ended badly,” Eddy laughed and took Brett’s bag out of his hand to store in the overhead compartment. 

Internally, Brett cursed some more. See, that was the issue with Eddy. He was such a goddamn gentleman. 

“Let’s sit,” Eddy continued, his fingertips brushing over the small of Brett’s back to guide him down and a warm flush ran over him. 

This was not part of the plan. None of this was part of the plan. 

“Are you alright?” Eddy asked concerned after they had sat down and Brett hadn’t replied. 

“Just peachy,” came the response. 

“You’re going to do great today,” he was reassured and Eddy pressed his hand really quickly out of nowhere. 

His clammy, clammy hands. 

Goddamnit. 

This was spinning out of control. All of it. 

He was meant to observe, not participate. He was meant to be neutral, not fall in love. 

But here he sat, on that goddamn train, on his way to hold a speech about an approach in securing influence in westernised countries to impose regulations favouring the Asian race—while trying to not fall for this really lovely, really cute, really fucking racist man. 

Fuck his life. 

He took a deep breath and calmed himself down by counting sheep in his head. It helped. 

Because he had not really done more than absolutely necessary, he wasn’t as prepared as he usually would be. He got his speech and talking points out of his bag to get into the right headspace. 

“I thought your surname was Huang?” 

“Huh?” Brett asked, surprised, and looked up. 

Eddy pointed at one of the papers in front of him and Brett’s carefully controlled breath stuttered. It was just a simple electricity bill, the one he had gotten sent for his flat in Brisbane. 

All his mail was automatically forwarded to Taipei. 

The bill must have slipped in between his notes. With his actual fucking name on it. 

“Who is Brett Yang then?” Eddy asked, curious. 

“A friend of mine.” 

“That you get mail from?” 

“He is short on money. I help him from time to time.” 

The tone Brett used made clear that he wouldn’t elaborate any further. 

It was too late though, because the wheels in Eddy’s brain were already spinning, Brett could see it. 

“My family is well off. At least my money can be useful for someone,” he added, pushing the story further, hoping it’d be more convincing. 

Eddy still had an odd look about him, but he didn’t touch the subject again. Instead, he plugged his headphones in his phone and offered one to Brett. 

They had discovered early on that they both loved classical music. 

While Eddy leaned back, burying in his hoodie, Brett returned to his speech. 

/ 

The applause he got for it was sickening. 

It was a different version of the Great Dragon, a more rural one but with even older men. Some women even. 

And there were so many of them. 

“You’ve done great, son,” Spencer said and he got a clap on his shoulder from Wei. 

Getting asked to hold a speech at a far-right event was odd in a sense Brett didn’t even know how to begin to describe. 

Just like at his first meeting, Spencer was showing him around the room, making him talk to a lot of people. 

Brett didn’t bother to remember their names, his recording device was attached to his collar this time, along with a hidden camera in his shirt button. 

When Spencer was occupied with someone else, Brett took the chance to retreat in a quiet corner. 

He was only by himself for less than a minute when Eddy showed up at his side, holding a glass in his hand. 

“I don’t think I should drink.” 

“It’s water,” Eddy’s eyes crinkled and he handed it over. 

“Oh. Thank you.” 

“Figured you’d be too wired for anything else.” 

“I am. Look at my hand.” 

To prove his point, Brett was stretching out his hand, which was slightly shaking. 

“There, there,” Eddy said and took the hand between the two of his, “you did well. Didn’t even stumble over your words once.” 

“That’s what uni is for, it forces you to do a lot of presentations.” 

Eddy’s only reply was another smile. Brett returned it automatically, feeling warmth seeping through his clammy body. He let his eyes wander down to his hand. That was still between Eddy’s. 

He was just about to clear his throat to point out that his hand was all toasty and non-shaking now when Spencer showed up at their side. 

It was clear that he was just in the approach of enthusiastically addressing them when his eyes were also locking on their hands and he was clearly confused by it. 

“There was a small cut on Brett’s hand,” Eddy chimed in quickly and calmly. He gave Brett one last reassuring squeeze and then let go as if it would be the most normal thing in the world and not as if Brett was sure to feel the press of his hands for the rest of the night. 

“Right. Of course,” Spencer refocused, “I came here to invite you to a smaller round. You too, Eddy. Just a small get together in a friend's house.” 

Brett’s mother always told him to not go with strangers. But then, his mother never thought he’d be part of an anti-Caucasian scene, so there is that. 

The after party wound down slowly and they moved onto the private gathering. The house was a bit further out of town and Brett wondered what their chances would be to still catch the last train back to Taipei. 

They arrived in different cars, but when they entered, Brett realised that it really only was a small group. He also realised that Eddy and him were the only younger ones. 

“You brought new friends!” 

Those were the first words of their host, Jim Ji, who opened the door for them and indicated for them to get inside.  
One of the most irritating things was that everyone at the Great Dragon was surprisingly friendly. They could be your nice neighbour, if you just didn’t pay attention to the actual words leaving their mouths. 

“I presume they are trustworthy,” Jim asked, pointing at the two youngest participants as well as some one other guy who was new as well. 

Spencer vouched for all of them. Fool that he was. 

Apparently, that caused Jim to break into a happy grin and clap his hands excitedly. 

“Well then, let’s continue where we left off last time.” 

They all sat down on any available furniture in a really comfortable, somewhat old-fashioned, living room while Jim got out some large maps and rolled them onto the coffee table. 

“As we discussed, if we place the bombs on central points, let’s say here, here and here—" 

Brett stopped listening because his ears seemed to have shut off to produce white noise instead. He felt cold and hot all at once and needed to do his utmost to contain his facial expression. 

What he did notice was Eddy drawing in his breath sharply and quietly, his body going rigid. Within a second and therefore quicker than Brett, he regained his casual composure and looked his normal neutral-interested self though. 

Realising what a chance this was, Brett tried to concentrate again, tried to take in everything and prayed to any god out there that his observation system has not run out of battery yet. 

This was way beyond what he was hoping to discover and he just knew that he struck gold. 

Explosive gold. 

So, he sat there quietly, watching and observing how these men planned attacks on international schools, hotels and one embassy in six months' time. 

The absurd thing (as always) was that if those exact same plans would have been made by Muslims or Caucasians, they would have been declared terroristic. 

But as Wei explained, they were freeing the Taiwanese citizen of a race endangering their safety. 

After thorough discussion, they finished the planning stages around two hours later. It went into a lot of details and Brett couldn’t wait to dissect everything he had learned today and then hand it the fuck over to the police. 

It was past 1am now and most of the members were planning to stay overnight or leave for a hotel nearby. 

“You are welcome to stay as well,” Jim smiled warmly at them as if he didn’t just calculate to be able to murder 300-400 people in six-months time, casualties depending on the traffic. 

Just when Brett was ready to accept, assuming there was nowhere they could go anyway, Eddy grabbed his arm and gave a friendly smile towards Jim. 

“Our Uber will be here in a minute. We might be able to catch the last train to Taipei. It was lovely to make your acquaintance.” 

“As it was mine,” Jim said after grabbing their hands to shake. Wei and Spencer bid them goodbye as well and in a very subtle hurry, Eddy pushed Brett into the Uber. 

All of a sudden it was erringly quiet between them. 

Neither knowing what to say after this. 

“The last train left half an hour ago,” Brett remarked after five minutes into the silence. 

“The last direct train,” Eddy replied. He sounded tired. 

“If we do a stopover, we can still get home. It will just take a second longer than normal.” 

With a visible shake of his head, Eddy got himself out of his stupor and released a deep breath. 

“Sorry,” he said, turning to Brett now with a small smile, “I just wasn’t expecting the evening to take a turn like that. I wanted to leave. I should have asked if you wanted to as well, I am sorry for just dragging you out.” 

“Thank you for doing so,” Brett mirrored the smile, “I would have accepted out of politeness more than anything else.” 

“Good.” 

“Good.” 

It was immediately awkward again and Brett just knew that this evening would somewhat influence the rest of their relationship. It was a crossroad; he could feel it. 

There were things he could accept and things he couldn’t. 

Just when they were about to pull up to the train station, Eddy reached over and grabbed his forearm. 

“I am not massively into violence. And I am not sure if we can stay friends if you are.” 

All fight and energy left Brett at once and he melted into his seat, his eyes searching for Eddy’s while taking his hand to hold in his. 

“Me neither.” 

“Good.” 

This time Eddy looked determined, sure and positive. 

The train ride back was annoying as hell though. They had to change trains twice, literally every time Brett had just fallen asleep, Eddy was shaking him awake. 

By the time they rolled into Taipei, his head was snuggled into Eddy’s shoulder and he was pretty sure he was drooling very unsexily. 

“Let’s just get another Uber,” Brett mumbled, his eyes half closed when Eddy nearly manhandled him out of the train, apparently not believing in Brett’s ability to do it by himself. 

It was nearly five am by the time they stopped at Brett’s flat. 

“Can you make it upstairs alright?” Eddy asked, his forehead creased again. 

“You can come in and make sure of that yourself.” 

It was a clear testament of how tired Brett was that these words slipped out. 

Those words belonged to another Brett, the one who lived in Brissy and had a life and loved to flirt and go out and be social. This wasn’t student Brett, with the far-right tendencies. 

Eddy was taken aback for a second but quickly overcame the surprise with a grin. 

“Only if you want me to,” he replied. 

Brett tried to think about it for a second with his tired brain, drawing his own eyebrows up, standing in the open door of the uber. 

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that. I could use a snuggle buddy.” 

Eddy must have not really counted on that because he seemed actually stunned by it but within a second, he was out of the car himself. 

“You sure you didn’t drink?” he asked, half as a joke, half seriously. 

“No, I didn’t. Don’t think too highly of yourself. You're sleeping on the floor.” 

“That’s not what snuggle buddies are,” Eddy said amused when they stepped into the elevator. 

Brett turned quiet and looked ahead, lost in thought. 

“I think I just can’t be alone tonight. This morning. Today?” 

His eyebrows drew up in confusion again and Eddy’s own tired brain didn’t stop himself quick enough to smooth the crinkles with his thumb. 

“I would love to sleep on your floor today. I don’t want to be alone either.” 

As a response, he got a nod but Brett was still looking at him with big eyes. 

“Stop staring, you creep,” Eddy joked quietly, which made Brett laugh. It also broke the tension. 

After they entered, Brett suddenly halted in front of his room. 

Damnit. His room. There was stuff in his room. From both his life. And some of his others. 

Thinking about it quickly and clearly, he couldn’t remember anything really obvious lying around though, so he took his chances and opened the door. 

“You don’t actually have to sleep on the floor,” Brett said after turning on the light and realising that there might not be enough space on his floor to even spread out a mattress. 

“I insist,” Eddy said firmly though, “you guys have a foldable mattress in your storage space, right?” 

“Yeah,” Brett confirmed and used the time Eddy needed to get the mattress for a quick sweep of the room, making any hint of Brett Yang vanish. Thankfully, there wasn’t too much around anyway, he kept his things neat and tidy. 

The sun was just rising when Brett shut the blinds, both of them having changed in comfortable clothing. 

“Can we do breakfast at that 24h breakfast place when we get up?” Brett mumbled, when he climbed into bed. 

“We absolutely can.” 

He could hear the smile on Eddy’s face. 

For a moment, it was quiet between them. 

“Eddy?” Brett broke the silence. 

“Hm?” 

“I know it is not my place to ask but, do you really believe in all the things the Great Dragon does?” 

“Sometimes,” Eddy said after clearly contemplating for a second. Wise choice of words. 

“Do you?” the question got returned. 

“Sometimes,” Brett replied quicker, liking to keep it just as vague. “Promise me to not help in bombing children though?” 

Eddy sat up immediately from his mattress to be on eye level with Brett. He stretched out his hand for Brett to take. 

“I promise to never help in bombing children. That’s not what I am here for.” 

“Good. It’s not what I am here for either.” 

They looked at each other in the dark, both realising that there might be more about the other than they initially thought. But also, that they wouldn’t get to know it anytime soon. 

“Good,” Eddy repeated yet again and laid back down. Taking Brett’s hand with him. 

That’s how they fell asleep eventually, with Brett perched on the side of his bed, his arm hanging down, his hand engulfed in Eddy’s. 

/ 

The knock on his bedroom door was what got Brett out of the zone. 

Damn it. 

He tried to continue writing but the knocking returned. 

“It’s me, Eddy,” a voice called and Brett sighed. 

Bad timing really but what could be done about it. 

Getting up from his desk, Brett only opened the door slightly. 

“So sorry dude, but I have a paper due tonight and I really need to finish it.” 

Eddy looked at him with surprise. 

“I just came from Spencer. He said you have no assignments left this semester.” 

Well, he’ll be damned, Brett was caught in his lie. 

“It’s for a general studies course. Spencer only mentors me for the poli-sci stuff.” 

Leaning against the doorframe and therefore dangerously close to Brett, Eddy studied him. Clearly not entirely believing him. 

“Spencer told me to check out that rally with you. Said it would be interesting for us to see this side of the Great Dragon.” 

“Oh,” Brett made, opening his door a bit wider without meaning to, lost in thought. Visiting a rally organised by the Great Dragon would be a good opportunity indeed. 

He made a face. 

“I really need to finish this,” he said, a bit miserable perhaps. 

“Do you need long?” 

“Well, I am short five hundred words. And it’s due in,” Brett glanced at his watch, calculating it backwards to eastern standard time. “Two hours. Damn.” 

Ignoring Eddy, he walked back into his room to plop down on his desk, leaving the door open. 

“Come in or leave until later, but please don’t disturb me.” 

To emphasize his point, he put noise cancelling headphones on and went back to writing. 

With laser light focus that had built his career, he got back into the required headspace and continued his article on the current protest movements in East Asia with a reflection on basic democracy and human rights. His “study trip” to Hongkong had been more than helpful. 

With just half an hour left on the very last deadline he was granted, he sent the article to his designated Editor at the New York Times and just hoped that he would be forgiven for the spelling mistakes. 

Setting down his headphones with a happy sigh, he turned around to the room to spot Eddy on his bed, watching him. 

“Have you been staring at me like a creep for the past 90 minutes?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, bemused. 

“Not the whole time,” Eddy answered lazily and raised his hand with a book in it to indicate he had read a bit as well. “You have a really expressive face, has anyone ever told you that?” 

“What is with your wrist?” Brett asked in surprise and jumped up from the desk to walk over to his bed, his eyes as big as saucepans. 

“Oh yeah,” Eddy looked down, “I broke it yesterday. Stupid accident with a copy machine. It’s nothing though, just a sprain.” 

“What kind of copy machines do you guys have at your office?” 

“The ones trapping your stupid arm,” Eddy laughed but didn’t stop Brett from examining his cast, he hadn’t noticed before in his writing frenzy. 

“Does it hurt?” 

“They gave me the good stuff at the hospital.” 

Brett looked up. 

“You went with a sprained wrist directly to an emergency room?” 

For less than a second it looked like Eddy was caught off guard before his usual friendly face returned. Brett had noticed though, so he kept on studying the other, waiting for something else to be off. 

“The rally starts in around an hour,” was all Eddy said though. 

“Why did you come knocking so early then?” 

With a shoulder shrug, Eddy’s smile only broadened. 

“I wanted to take you out for food beforehand.” 

“Grab something off the market?” Brett suggested with a wiggle of his eyebrow. 

“Totally. Let me head to the bathroom real quick and we can be off.” 

After Eddy vanished, Brett opened his drawer to take out his recording equipment and attach them somewhere inconspicuous in a hurry before the other would return. 

They got some street food and decided to walk the rest of the way because the day was nice and sunny. 

It didn’t come as a total surprise but Brett quite liked living in Taipei. It totally wasn’t why he came here but reconnecting with his roots and just living in a different city for a bit longer was a nice change. 

He was also surrounded by a completely different circle of people than in his usual creative hub in Brisbane, but was tremendously helpful for his writing. 

Arriving at the scene, Brett and Eddy easily spotted which were the protestors of the far-right and which were the ones protesting the protest of the fascists. 

“What was the cause again today?” Brett asked when they moved to the outer sides of the protest. 

“Reproductive health.” 

“Ah ha. A man’s favourite subject. Having an opinion on a uterus none of us own.” 

Only after he said it, Brett realised he shouldn’t have. 

And Eddy did throw him a weird side glance, so it obviously didn’t go unnoticed. 

Honestly, Brett really needed to get a grip and not consider Eddy a real friend that he could be confide in. Which was a shame because he really quite liked the other. 

As Brett Huang he was obviously against reproductive health because a woman was meant to mother a good number of Taiwanese babies to continue their race. 

There were days and Great Dragon meetings where Brett had to actively remind himself that he was in fact, not living in medieval times. 

“Spencer wants us to learn.” 

“How the lowest ranks of the Dragons work?” 

“Something like that.” 

The thing was, none of these far-right protestors were part of the Great Dragons. They wouldn’t even come close to even knowing the Dragons existed. 

The Great Dragons were the wealthy and influential part of the alt-right movement, the ones doing the work on a meta level, pushing the boundaries of what was possible within society and their political framework. 

These protestors… they were the common folk. The ones doing the dirty work, the ones making sure a certain image was displayed in the public, ensuring that no one noticed the actual movement expanding their social dimension. 

Normalising the unacceptable until it didn’t feel as unacceptable anymore. 

Being here was like a really weird field trip for Brett and Eddy. They were apprentices. Sponsored members, who were in the process of learning the craft. They each had a mentor and were advancing in different fields. 

Brett knew that Eddy was mentored by Michael Ho, who was working in education. Which was a nice way of saying they developed strategies to influence parents and be able to indoctrinate children from a very young age. 

In a morbid way, it was fascinating how effective school campaigns and parents meetings were being. Brett had been able to copy some of Eddy’s notes and papers when the opportunity struck and it was pure madness. 

“Shall we mingle with the opposition? See what they’re mood is like, they’re arguments?” Eddy suggested, while already steering him away from the protesters after they had been lurking around for a while. 

That was a good idea, because Brett started to feel sick when one of the elderly men was contemplating the variety of sexual positions he would like to try with his housemaid. 

“Men are pigs,” was Eddy’s only comment when they were far enough away from them. It made Brett laugh in surprise. 

Treading in the far end of the oppositional protest was so much nicer. Brett loved the scene━so many rainbow colours and feminism slogans━his gay heart felt right at home. 

Normally, he would be standing in the first row, but who cares. At least he wasn’t listening to sexist pigs anymore. 

“Do you think the Dragons have spies here?” Eddy asked him, having to yell a bit over the loud music blasting from the boxes. 

“You mean besides us poor examples?” 

Eddy laughed and looked at him with his eyes crinkling. 

“Yeah. Do you think anyone sees us?” 

“They’d go blind from all the rainbow colours,” Brett rolled his eyes playfully. 

“Good,” Eddy said and with a sharp tug on Brett’s hand, he pulled him around, grabbing his neck with the other and enthusiastically kissed him, square on the mouth. 

A couple of people whistled around them but Brett didn’t pay them any mind, because he was busy returning the kiss just as enthusiastically, grabbing onto Eddy’s side. Who smiled into the kiss. 

“Thought so,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes when they separated. 

“Show-off," Brett grinned, but pulled him down for another kiss. 

And then things happened really quickly. 

The hands placed on Brett’s elbows were pulling him forcefully to the side all of a sudden, to the point that Brett stumbled and fell when Eddy pushed him. 

“What the he—” 

Just then he heard a screeching tire. And the screams. 

Oh, god the screams. 

Eddy was hovering over him, a hand on Brett’s shoulder keeping him down determinedly, but his head was turned towards the commotion. 

“What happened?” Brett yelled to get through the noise. He didn’t know why but he trusted Eddy enough that he didn’t try to get up as long as Eddy didn’t motion for him to do so. 

After another couple of seconds, Eddy’s attention turned back to him. 

“A car drove into the protest. It doesn’t look pretty.” 

“I don’t mind not-pretty. I had recent first aid training.” 

Apparently, those were the right words because after Eddy studied him for a bit, he had made up his mind and pulled Brett upwards. And he could see what played out around him. 

Eddy had been right. 

The sight wasn’t pretty. 

There were so many people lying on the ground, crying and screaming and bleeding. 

Brett didn’t realise it when he separated from Eddy, but it didn’t matter as he just turned to the next best injured person to apply whatever he remembered from his extensive first aid course. He had always made it a point to do one once per year because it could save lives. 

It was a relief when the first ambulances arrived and actual paramedics could tend to the worst injured. 

Looking around, he spotted Eddy ten metres from him, pressing a cloth onto a bleeding wound. 

When the paramedics outnumbered the civilian helpers, Brett went over to Eddy. On the way, he grabbed a water bottle that was provided for the people on the side. 

“Come here,” Brett said, tugging Eddy away, who was still looking at the teenage girl he had been tending to being moved onto a gurney. 

Grabbing Eddy’s hands, he let the water from the bottle run over his hands to wash the blood off, even though it stuck on the cast of his wrist. 

When he looked up, Eddy was watching him intently. Brett didn’t know why but he felt himself blushing while drying Eddy’s hands off with the light jacket he had carried around all day, not caring if the blood would stain. 

“You alright?” Eddy asked, keeping Brett’s hand in his afterwards, obviously searching for something in his face. 

“It wasn’t pretty,” Brett said because he didn’t know what else to say. 

“No. It wasn’t.” 

For a moment, Eddy looked like he wanted to say something else. But seemed to have decided otherwise and just gave him a weak smile. 

“You’re pretty brave for a 21-year-old student,” he eventually settled on. 

“You’re not so bad yourself, for a 25-year-old customer support agent.” 

They both looked at each other, not knowing where to go from there. 

“Let’s get the fuck out of here then,” Eddy sighed, laying an arm over Brett’s shoulder to turn them away from the scene. 

“Agreed,” Brett mumbled. 

And then he stopped all of a sudden. 

“What?” Eddy asked, surprised. 

“Nothing,” Brett quickly reassured him and started walking again to keep up with Eddy. 

He just realised that the tiny camera was still on the collar of his polo shirt. 

Everything that had just happened was on film. 

/ 

It was two weeks since the Great Dragons had a car run into the oppositional protest. Eight people had died, 16 injured. 

Brett had handed over the video material to the police on the same evening. Anonymously, of course, but he hoped it helped all the same. 

He felt like he was beside himself for the majority of the time and had actually called in sick to the Dragon meeting the week after. 

Eddy had stopped by afterwards to ensure he was alright. And stayed the night, keeping his arms closely circled around him. 

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” he had whispered in Brett’s neck quietly. 

“I know,” Brett only answered, staring ahead into his dark room, pulling Eddy’s arm tighter around his chest. 

He knew. 

And he wondered how much further he was willing to go. 

But two weeks had passed and he had come to terms with the fact that the terrorist attack would have happened anyway. With or without him at the Great Dragons. 

Staying with the group, meant he had more opportunity to report what was happening. 

He was ready for a break though, so it was a welcome change to join his friend Christian in China to do a bit of another undercover story on the border on the camps for the Uyghurs. 

Christian has gotten a hold of someone who had been imprisoned in one of the camps and was willing to talk. His friend wanted Brett more for the cultural aspect than anything else but they had worked on previous stories together and Brett didn’t mind the distraction. 

When he returned a bit over a week later, he was surprised to see Eddy picking him up from the airport. 

“I was in the area,” the other shyly said with a small smile, which Brett rewarded with a smooch on his cheek. 

“The airport is near nothing,” Brett laughed but happily grabbed Eddy’s hand, “you look nice though.” 

He did. Eddy wore a very simple but nice black suit, tie included. 

“Thanks. I came from work.” 

“At 1pm?” 

“Maybe took a bit of time off.” 

“I feel honoured. And hungry.” 

“Let’s get food then. I brought my car.” 

“Wait, you have a car? Why are we always taking the metro then?” 

“Because it’s easier in the city centre. This way,” he led Brett to one of the closer parking decks. 

And there it stood, a Mercedes. 

“What kind of call centre agent did you say you were again?” Brett asked, suspicious with big eyes. 

Eddy only laughed and took his bag, giving his cheek a quick kiss in return. 

/ 

His second semester had just started when his internship turned up a notch. 

“This is less for my official job and more towards our private goal,” Wei had said when he handed Brett a sketch and a couple of notes. 

“I want you to make it as detailed as possible.” 

Numbly, Brett went through the few papers that he received. It still was clear as daylight what this was about. 

“I thought you wanted me to concentrate on the political possibilities within our current constitution,” he asked Spencer in their next mentoring session. As he didn’t have ethics as a lecture anymore, he didn’t see the professor in class but Spencer was still his supervisor, which was a good excuse to meet weekly at uni. 

“We are talking about the political possibilities with this one,” Spencer only replied, not even looking up from the article he was studying himself. 

“But,” Brett started, “this is a camp.” 

“Indeed. And we need it to be legal.” 

The thing was, not even Brett’s very own curiosity (which was his biggest driving force as a journalist) could get him to start on this project. 

It was as if his brain didn’t want to go through the possible options and logistics to set up a correction centre for Caucasian citizens. 

He knew that he was testing his luck when he asked Spencer and Wei to have a private meeting about it. In his eyes, he explained it reasonably enough by asking in what framework they were thinking and the extent they were willing to go. 

These days, he always had a secret camera with him at all times, next to the hidden microphone he routinely carried around anyway. 

Even before the terrorist attack, he contemplated making this into a documentary instead of his typical article or journal and the later only confirmed his choice. Through some contact from home, he had already reached out to some producers and had set up meetings. 

So, with his trusted recording equipment attached, he met with the two Dragons at Spencer's house, his first own sketch of the camp finally finished. 

“We go as far as we want,” Wei said when Brett repeated his reasoning for meeting them and asked where the line was.

Apparently, there was no line. 

“By all means, it will be difficult to justify concentration camps, holocaust-style.” 

“Correction facilities,” Spencer corrected automatically. 

“Right,” Brett spread out his papers, “correction facilities then. Our constitution might be flexible but not flexible enough to find reasoning for the, um, treatment you are proposing.” 

Physical and mental torture, family separation, forced education in Taiwanese culture and language. 

“It’s because you are still thinking in terms of today’s democracy. We’re talking about the future here,” Wei’s grin was sickening. “I know that we gave you a difficult task here, Brett, I won’t deny it, but we wouldn’t have done it if we wouldn’t deem you ready.” 

“So, what kind of governmental system are we applying in this scenario?” 

“Democracy, of course,” Spencer answered as if it would explain everything. 

“With a different constitution though?” Brett guessed. “So, you’re eventually looking towards a constitutional change to implement and justify means such as the correction facilities?” 

“We are looking towards a constitutional change,” Spencer chimed in again, scolding him like a small school boy, “I assumed you would have figured as much. It’s what we are aiming for. Everything else we do is a mere distraction. We need true change to make it work the way we want.” 

“I know our political influence and recognition within the society is growing,” Brett was more careful with his choice of words now, “but would we get enough voters to gain the political power we need to push for such a change?” 

“You can see how much we grew in recent years.” 

Obviously, Brett knew that. The rise of the Party for Taiwan in the last five years was unmatched. 

Wei being a member of the party and a Great Dragon had Brett so excited that he had nearly peed himself the first time he found out. 

Nevertheless, just because they were stomping above the 10% mark during the last election did not mean they would win any time soon or, god forbid, have a majority in parliament that would allow a change of the constitution. 

“Our growth will continue,” Wei went on, “you’ll see. Our marketing team found out that we make good on votes every time Taiwan or its citizens are having a hard time. Like with the recent immigration law.” 

A recent law made it possible for foreign companies to set up office and foreign workers without having to employ a single Taiwanese citizen. Business owners were enraged, afraid wage dumping will push them out of their businesses. 

“If I understand you correctly, we are doing well as long as Taiwan is doing bad?” 

“Yes. Let the foreigners come in for the moment and upset the voters.” 

“But isn’t one of our biggest goals to reduce immigration? What are we going to do with the people who entered the country then after we have enough votes and political power?” 

“We can always shoot them afterwards, that is no problem, or gas them or something, whatever you like, really,” Wei waved the statement off with his hand as if it was nothing. 

Brett couldn’t be entirely sure that his face gave nothing away because his head surely was exploding. 

“Show us what you have until now,” Spender sat up straight and looked at Brett encouragingly. 

What followed next was three hours that made Brett feel like a sad excuse of a human being. 

/ 

“Go away!” Brett yelled after the first knock. 

“Are you still sick?” Eddy called through the door. 

Brett blinked his eyes open. Did he use sickness as an excuse last week already? 

“Yes,” he just said in the end. 

“And are your fingers ill as well? Or why are you ignoring my texts and calls?” 

“I just...” but Brett didn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t. 

“I’ll call you,” he settled on. 

“When?” Eddy asked, determination in his voice. 

“I don’t know. Soon. Next week?” 

He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t tell. 

“Brett, did something happen?” 

Something happened, alright. But he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell Eddy. And see his reaction. His potential approval of the whole thing. 

It made him sick. Actually sick. 

“No!” he gave Eddy as a response. 

“I know that something is going on,” Eddy tried to turn the handle but it was locked and Brett could hear a frustrated huff. 

“I promise, it’s nothing.” 

“Let me in, Brett. Let’s talk.” 

“No.” 

“Why not?” 

“Just because.” 

“That’s a poor reason.” 

“I don’t care.” 

“Let me in!” 

“No! Go away!” 

“Why?!” 

“Because I need a break!” Brett yelled. “I need a fucking break and I need to hole up in my room and not see anyone!” 

It was quiet behind the door all of a sudden. 

Eddy retreated without saying anything else. 

With a deep sigh, Brett curled back into bed. 

That was not what he wanted Eddy to hear. But it was the truth. 

The whole goddamn fucking truth. 

/ 

He didn’t reach out to Eddy in the following week either and the other hadn’t tried to do so himself. 

Spencer had contacted him, asking him to stop by his office to talk about his progress. As an apprentice at the Great Dragons more than anything else. 

It took Brett a week curled up in his bed and a lengthy phone call with his best friend back home to set his head back straight. He also took a couple of smaller writing jobs, just to immerse himself into a different topic for a while and block out his current life. 

But he wouldn’t be where he was today if he didn’t know how to finish this, so he decided that he would slowly wrap it up and prepare for his return to Brisbane. 

Brett had enough material to make a solid 40-to-60-minute video and he knew that the stuff he had was shocking enough. It would also give him the chance to finally tip off the police on all the things he had gathered. 

It was a Wednesday afternoon and he was sitting hunched over a first sketch of an outline of the documentary when Spencer called him, to invite him over to his house. Him and Wei had done some more brainstorming and wanted to include him on it. 

For a second, Brett contemplated blowing him off. But then his curiosity won out and he finished the thought he was writing and grabbed his jacket. 

He noticed another text from Eddy when he arrived at Spencer’s house but he ignored it as usual. 

It was the one thing he hadn’t figured out yet. What would he do with Eddy? 

The other had really grown on him and Brett’s feelings were all over the place. A far-right motivated boyfriend was really not what he was looking for. But then, sometimes, Eddy was just so... Eddy. 

With a sigh and a promise to himself to make up his mind before he left, he rang the doorbell at Spencer’s house. 

“Come on in, Brett,” Wei opened the door for him and he followed him into the study. 

“Brett, lovely you could make it!” Spencer greeted him. “We missed you at the Dragons last week.” 

“I was unwell, please excuse my absence. I hope I didn’t miss too much.” 

“Nothing you couldn’t catch up on, I’m sure.” 

Spencer really was like a thoughtful grandfather when it came down to social interaction. 

“We were going over the timeframe and crucial steps we will need to follow through. You really have a logical mind and an interesting perspective of things. It would be great if you could assist with the plans.” 

“I’d be happy to,” Brett said with a fake smile. 

There were some very interesting documents and Brett was eager to get his hands on them. 

“Would I be able to copy some of them, to study them further at home?” he asked after around an hour of them going through stages of restricting foreigner’s rights one by one over the timeframe of several years. 

Spencer hesitated and Brett knew why. The Great Dragons tried to spread their influence and message as far and wide as possible but they were very careful who was allowed to have access to which information. 

“Not this time,” Spencer decided and Brett could barely contain his disappointment. 

It was another two hours of discussion and one cigarette break later when Brett decided to take a chance while Wei and Spencer were on the terrace. 

Quickly, he searched for the documents he was interested in the most and prayed to god the small copy machine on Spencer’s desk wasn’t too loud. 

And hoped it was quick. 

His hands started to sweat when he realised that the small home machine was not even close to being as efficient as the one at the university. 

Deciding that he couldn’t risk too much, he went through the documents again and prioritised them once more, abandoning some to put them back where they should be. 

It was still too slow, way too slow. 

Just when he decided to leave it be and return everything to its original place, the door handle squeaked. And opened. 

Brett stopped dead cold. 

Wei and Spencer were in the middle of a private but amused conversation when they took in the scene in front of them. 

Attack was better than defence; this had always been one of his favourite mottos, so Brett immediately jumped in:  
“I know you told me not to, but it is just so interesting, I couldn’t resist. I was hoping to work out a coherent and thorough handbook with procedures.” 

None of them said anything for a moment. 

“I did tell you that the documents are not meant to leave the room,” Spencer said, pronouncing every word carefully, his eyebrows creased. 

“I know,” Brett knew he needed to admit to the crime and he held up the copies. “I am sorry. It was a failure of judgement on my part. Please forgive me.” 

“It’s okay,” Wei eventually said, although he looked like it really wasn’t. “But please show us your bag. We need to ensure nothing else might leave the house.” 

At that exact moment, Brett knew he was fucked. 

“I promise that this is all,” Brett waved the papers in his hand again but it was no use, Wei was already grabbing for his bag. 

In an act of desperation, Brett was dashing forward to get his bag but Wei was quicker and with a flexibility he hadn’t accounted for, Spencer had tripped him. Brett fell forcefully in the space between the couch and the coffee table. 

From this angle, Brett had to watch how Wei opened his bag and all the fight left him. 

Not only was an additional, and very visible, recorder and camera in it, but also some actual documents belonging to Brett Yang. 

For example, his Reporters Without Borders member card, as he was meant to meet up with someone from the Taipei office later tonight to talk about potential security issues for him in Taiwan. 

Seems like he had just caused his own security issue. 

Slowly standing up from the floor, he watched how Wei stared at the yellow member card. And how his face turned from surprise to anger. 

“You’re a reporter.” 

It wasn’t a question. 

“Yes,” Brett still answered and straightened his shoulders. “I am. And I was looking into the Great Dragons. To get a whole comprehensive approach. I did intend to get you guys’ statement at the end.” 

That wasn’t even a lie. As a good journalist, he was always presenting his research to the people or company he was investigating, giving them an opportunity to take a stand on the accusation. Well, he often asked, not always.  
He certainly didn’t ask the Chinese government about the Uyghurs. 

“I don’t even know what to say,” Spencer muttered, who apparently had to sit down, and Brett did feel a bit sorry for him. The old man must be taking it hard. 

“I’m sorry, it was not my intention to hurt anyone. Please hand over my belongings and I will leave immediately.” 

“No,” Wei only said and put Brett’s bag thoughtfully on the desk. 

“We should call Anton,” he said, directed towards Spencer. 

Brett broke into a cold sweat. 

“I will go now,” he said determinedly. Yes, this was uncomfortable but he was once exposed in a bar full of Hell’s Angels and he made it out with nothing more than a black eye. Surely, he could outrun two elderly men. 

Just when he was making his way towards the door, he saw Spencer pressing a button on a remote. And he heard the door and window lock. 

“Right,” Brett said and turned to Spencer, his heart in his throat, “that is deprivation of liberty. And therefore a crime.” 

“As you may have noticed, we don’t really recognize the law from time to time,” Wei only said, in an oddly neutral voice. 

Motioning for Spencer to get up and leave the room, Wei grabbed one of the science trophies from the shelf and hit Brett over the head with it. 

It was so unexpected, that Brett didn’t even react and while he was crouching on the floor yet again, feeling blood trickle down his face, he could hear Wei and Spencer leaving the room and locking it again. 

Lifting his head, he saw that they had taken his bag. 

Well, fuck. 

Big fat, fucking fuck. 

/ 

To his absolute dismay, Brett had to discover that none of the electrical devices in Spencer’s office were working. If it wasn’t trapping him as we speak, he would have admired the security measures this house apparently possessed. 

Just when he was contemplating to see if he could smash a window, he could hear the front door. 

Anton had arrived. 

Even though he didn’t want to, he could feel his heart starting to race and his face turning white. 

He had never met Anton, but he had heard about him. 

The guy was the one person at the Great Dragons who actually did some of the dirty work. This was also inconveniently the moment Brett remembered that he had heard stories of the Dragons making people vanish. 

When Anton entered the room, Brett knew it was no use to fight this. 

Brett was no match for Anton, who was, surprisingly, a six feet tall Russian dude, who only needed one arm to drag him out of the room and downwards to the basement. 

Either Spencer was a lot kinkier than expected, or they had occasions like this more often than everyone thought because there was one room in this basement clearly designed to hold people captive. 

Just out of spite, Brett still made sure to bite into Anton’s hand until he drew blood before he was chained with his wrists to the wall. 

It gave him the time to study the room and he wasn’t sure that he liked what he saw. 

He was also pretty sure that some of the stuff in here would fall under the conventions against torture from the United Nations. Unhelpfully, his brain supplied that Taiwan wasn’t an actual member of the UN and thus wasn’t obligated to follow it. 

Even though he was wired, he fell asleep eventually at some point, even in the uncomfortable position the chains on the wall left him in. 

A bucket full of cold water was what woke him up several hours later. 

“Good morning to you too,” he said, sputtering when he blinked up at Anton. He had no idea what time it was and he cursed himself for not staying up. 

“Who have you told?” Anton asked in an accented voice. 

“No one,” Brett automatically said. 

“Lie.” 

“It’s not,” Brett claimed, but before he could say anything else, Anton reached up to one of his hands tied to the wall and simply twisted the small finger of his left hand until it broke. 

“Uh, fuck,” Brett cursed, the pain shooting through his entire arm, “I am a private reporter, I am not contracted with anyone.” 

“Who have you told?” Anton only repeated, very apparently not believing him. 

“No one,” was the exact same response as before, because he really wasn’t a contracted journalist. He either picked up stories that got offered to him or pitched stories he wanted to do to different magazines or newspapers. 

And he hadn’t even done the latter for this particular story. 

“Who have you told?” 

That Anton dude was very repetitive, Brett found, as Anton’s hand neared his left ring finger. 

When Brett clenched another “no one” out between his teeth, his ring finger was broken before the last letter left his mouth. 

“Who are you working for?” 

Okay, different approach. 

Same answer. 

“No one.” 

And that was his middle finger. The pain really started to be unbearable. 

Brett also wondered what Anton would do when all his ten fingers were done with. 

“Who are you working for?” 

“I am an independent reporter,” Brett yelled, frustrated, his eyes having teared up unintentionally, which made Anton halt in his movement to reach up to get his forefinger. 

“Who are you selling it to?” 

Too bad Anton wasn’t as stupid as he looked. 

“So far, no one.” 

“Are you lying?” 

“No,” trying to breathe through the pain, Brett looked directly at Anton. He really hadn’t sold it to anyone yet, but he had made a careful proposal to a wider known TV channel. Anton didn’t need to know that though. 

“You are lying,” his opponent concluded for himself. 

Apparently, breaking fingers was not fun enough anymore though, because Anton turned around to rummage through the cupboards of a shelf to his right. 

Brett couldn’t really see what he was getting out and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know anyway. 

Looking up at his left hand, he could see that his three broken fingers were definitely aiming in wrong angles away from his palm. 

Trying to control his breathing, he closed his eyes for a moment, forcing any feeling of panic back down. This wasn’t the time. 

When he opened his eyes again, Anton crouched in front of him, way too close for comfort, and he had a long but thin metal pike in his hand. For one surreal moment, Brett was thinking of chicken skewers and he realised that he hasn’t had anything to eat for a long time. 

That all became irrelevant though because Anton used the pike to slowly drive it through Brett’s left shoulder.  
It was surprisingly sharp and easily went though. 

He really didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help crying out in pain. 

“You could have taken the other side at least,” he panted out, when Anton just as slowly pulled the pike out again and Brett could feel small trickles of blood sliding down his chest. 

The weird thing was, that Brett was actually quite sure that the pike didn’t cause any major injuries. The pike was too small and there was nothing more than bone and muscle in his shoulder. It hurt like hell though. 

“I know,” Anton only answered, “who are you selling it to?” 

“I haven’t sold it to anyone.” 

His brother always said his stubbornness would dig him an early grave. They were always hoping it would be more of a joke though. 

While Anton drove the pike slowly through his shoulder again, only an inch away from the last spot, he talked:  
“Here is how it goes—you will tell me who knows about the Great Dragons.” 

“And then you let me live?” 

“Potentially. Or I make your death less painful.” 

Brett had absolutely no illusions on how this would end, without a miracle. Sure, maybe they would let him live. But not with his brain and memories intact. 

“There is nothing I can tell you,” he lied again, grunting when the pike was pulled out again, “so you might as well make it quick and spare both of us the time.” 

It was surprising for him as well, but he was oddly calm about this. He had always hoped that if he died, he would at least go while on the job. 

This ending would also make the documentary that much better. Obviously, there were safety copies, one with his father, one with his best friend. 

He wasn’t stupid. 

Maybe a bit though, when he noticed how Anton grabbed a smaller pike, that was even thinner. 

“Any confessions to make?” Anton asked, grabbing Brett’s left thumb. 

“No,” Brett only replied, but even in his ears it sounded a lot weaker than the last couple of times. 

The thing was, Brett had read about this kind of torture, had even researched it for an article about the Southern East of Europe. 

But having read about it, didn’t dampen the feeling of the pike being driven between his fingernail and his skin. It could only be described as an excruciating pocket of hell. He was pretty sure his screams echoed beyond the walls, but he couldn’t tell for sure because all he could feel was pain. 

Anton moved onto the next finger without even posing a question first and in dismay, Brett watched how his last uninjured finger of his left hand received the same treatment. 

He was convinced that his next logical step would be to pass out. 

What he didn’t take into account was the possibility of the police storming the room. 

Only when he saw Anton’s surprised face towards the door, did he turn his own head as far right as possible to watch what looked like an entire S.W.A.T. team invading the tiny room in the basement. 

That’s a bit excessive, he thought or maybe said out loud, and was about to shut his eyes in relief when he felt someone opening the handcuffs. 

“I’d say it’s quite justified,” the person opening his cuffs said and Brett’s eyes shot open again. 

“Eddy?” he gasped and then nearly choked at the pain radiating through his entire left side when his injured hand simply fell down, his shoulder not prepared to hold up anything. 

“Easy there now,” Eddy soothed and grabbed his face with both of his hands. “Are you with me?” 

Eddy’s scrutinising gaze wandered from his face to his shoulder and hand, over to his uninjured legs and back to his eyes. 

In the meantime, Brett studied Eddy himself. Looking at the bulletproof vest right in front of him, with the badge attached, the collar of a nice dress shirt poking out of it. 

“Fucking hell,” Brett grunted and leaned his head back, huffing out a chuckle. “You’re an undercover cop.” 

“Intelligence, please,” Eddy rolled his eyes, apparently happy that Brett was coherent and conscious, “and I cannot believe that you’re actually 29 years old and therefore a whole year older than me.” 

Brett could only laugh at that, an actual laugh, albeit a pained one and he watched how Eddy bid someone over. 

His right hand had never left Brett’s face and it was like a source of warmth to his otherwise hurting body. 

The paramedic joining Brett on his other side was a bit more thorough with his examination. 

“No, stay,” Brett asked and grabbed Eddy’s arm with his good hand, when the other was about to get up. 

With a soft expression in his eyes, Eddy carefully loosened Brett’s hold on him, but held his hand in his own for a second longer. 

“I have to go and check how things are upstairs. I’ll be back before you know it.” 

“Promise?” 

“I promise.” 

“Kick Wei’s ass for me,” Brett mumbled and got a squeeze of his hand in return before it was let go. 

“Will do,” Eddy smiled but when he got up, his whole posture changed and Brett wondered how he had never realised that Agent Eddy was a thing before. 

When the paramedic realised that he could get up and walk, even though his legs were shaking, they slowly made their way out of the basement. 

“What time is it?” Brett asked because it was the one thing that had bugged him the entire time. He should have paid more attention to that, it could have been helpful or even life-saving. 

“It’s around four in the morning,” the paramedic answered, Brett’s good arm slung over his shoulder, his bad arm cradled against his chest. 

“Fucking hell,” Brett grumbled. “That’s a horrible time for torture.” 

Which probably was the point. 

Getting up the stairs took a bit longer than Brett was ready to admit, but after they made it, it only took three steps and they were out of the house. 

For a second, Brett wished they could have taken the back entrance. 

“Did someone die?” he asked, closing his eyes against the bright blinking lights of multiple police cars and two ambulances, his head spinning with the amount of police people running around. 

That was a sight to behold for the neighbours in this sophisticated part of town. 

“We didn’t know what to expect.” 

Suddenly, Eddy had turned up at his other side again, his hand automatically coming up to Brett’s back in a comforting gesture. 

“How did you know to expect anything at all?” 

Now that he thought about it, Brett did wonder why a whole special forces team would show up at a professor's door at four in the morning. 

“Don’t get mad, and remember that you lied as well,” Eddy said, nearly blushing and helping the paramedic sit Brett down in the open door of the ambulance, “but I tracked your phone.” 

“You tracked my phone?” Brett said surprised. He thought about it for a second. 

“That’s illegal.” 

Eddy only shrugged his shoulders. 

“You were a member of a terrorist group. Gave me legal grounds.” 

Before Brett could answer, he hissed in pain when anti-sept was poured over his fingers. 

“But you actually only started tracking my phone since last week, right?” Brett had an impeccable gut feeling when it came to stuff like that. 

The paramedic wrapped his shoulder up and basically just taped his arm towards his chest, letting him know that the rest had to wait until they were in the hospital. 

“Because you didn’t answer my calls!” Eddy started to walk up and down in front of him, clearly agitated. “I knew something was up. And then I saw you going to Spencer’s house at around 5pm and not returning. You missed your appointment with Reporters Without Borders as well.” 

He had stopped his pacing and they both looked to the right, where Spencer was brought into a car, his hands cuffed together on his back. 

“I actually came over at 9pm, pretending to look for Wei and couldn’t see you anywhere in the house. I knew something must have happened then.” 

Brett could only gaze at him, while Eddy took a blanket from inside the ambulance to wrap it around him. 

“So, you thought assembling an entire police force to storm an old man’s house was the appropriate response?” 

“An old, racist, terrorist man’s house,” Eddy corrected him with a small smile. 

“Of course. My bad.” 

“Not at all,” Eddy replied and actually crouched down in front of Brett, taking his good hand in his. “Imagine my absolute relief when I found out that you weren’t a racist yourself.” 

“Imagine the headache you gave me for thinking you were one. Sorry, if I corrupted your case.” 

“Don’t be,” Eddy shook his head, “I would have closed it soon eventually. We had more than enough evidence.” 

“I can hand over all of mine as well.” 

“I wouldn’t even be surprised if you were able to gather more information in half the time that I had.” 

Eddy still had Brett’s hand in his, both of them resting on Brett’s legs and he gave his thigh a cheeky squeeze. 

“What gave me away,” Brett asked, genuinely curious. “Was it the electricity bill?” 

“It was a first clue, for sure, but didn’t get me anywhere in the beginning. Brett Yang really is a simple dude from Brisbane.” 

“Well, I am. It is my actual name and all,” Brett answered amused, liking how Eddy found joy in the detective work he had to get into. “When did you figure out the reporter stuff?” 

“Not for weeks after,” Eddy said, looking exasperated. “Just how many pseudonyms do you have?” 

“Many,” Brett laughed. 

“I didn’t get it until you left for China.” 

“What did I do there that gave me away?” 

“Nothing. But you were telling me the name of that Christian dude and after going through all his work, I realised that he had published a story about the human trafficking scene in Eastern Europe that you had told me about once.” 

“That must have taken a lot of digging.” 

“A lot,” Eddy confirmed, still smiling though. “Nice to meet you, Rose Andrews.” 

“It’s my favourite pseudonym out of all of them.” 

“You are full of surprises,” Eddy mumbled and then leaned forward to press a kiss on Brett’s hand, “I’m sorry, but I’ve held you up long enough. You really need to go to the hospital.” 

“Come with me?” 

“I can’t,” and he looked truthfully rueful, “someone has to imprison a couple of racists and write up something for the public prosecutor, so they can’t get out with bail by tomorrow.” 

“I won’t stop you then.” 

Instead of an answer, Eddy stood up and placed a hand at the back of Brett’s neck to kiss him properly. 

Just like the first time. 

/ 

Bonus: 

“Is that blood on your shirt?” 

“Sorry!” came the sheepish response from the bedroom. 

“Why is it always on the white ones?” 

“Believe it or not, I’m not doing it on purpose,” Eddy said, when he walked into the kitchen, in the middle of buttoning up a—would you believe it—yet another white dress shirt. 

“It’s impossible to get the stain out,” Brett complained, sitting on the floor of the kitchen, in the process of pushing the laundry into the washing machine. 

“Be careful tonight,” Eddy only answered, pressing a kiss on Brett’s hair when he leaned down. And another one on his lips when Brett turned his head towards him. 

“It’s just an interview.” 

“With a known murderer.” 

“And security.” 

“Brett.” 

“I’m always careful.” 

“Think of the basement.” 

“I get kidnapped once and you’re making such a fuss about it,” Brett grumbled when he got up and kissed Eddy’s cheek when he passed him, “and to think you don’t even know about Syria.” 

Eddy looked up in surprise. And then bolted after him. 

“Wait, what happened in Syria?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n: are you just thinking what an interesting fictional story this was and how original I must be as a writer? 
> 
> I am afraid that I have to disappoint you: 90% of that story has actually happened. I obviously twisted it around to fit the Breddy storyline and the ending is obviously fiction, but all the rest has happened.
> 
> A Swedish student called Patrick Hermansson snuck undercover in an alt-right movement in London when he went to uni there.   
> Here is a BBC article to get an overview: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43131290  
> And here an interview from Patrick to the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/opinion/alt-right-neo-nazis.html
> 
> Here is an link to the trailer of the documentary but I wasn’t able to find the whole thing in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJPqop9CDoc&ab_channel=TheJewishChronicle
> 
> For all my German peeps, the entire thing is an ARTE Doku: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrVtOhELjtg&ab_channel=ARTEde
> 
> I’ve also included some other current political discourses, such as the Uyghurian camps in China as well as the current development of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD; Alternative for Germany), which is our currently rising far right party.
> 
> The following exchange came directly from an elected member and the spokesperson of the AfD named Christian Lüth, who is in German parliament, in an undercover interview from a Thilo Mischke documentary (Deutsch. Rechts. Radikal. – Prosieben Spezial – immer noch auf Joyn verfügbar, Leudde!), saying that the AfD needs Germany to do poorly to perform good during elections – he had to step down afterwards obviously: 
> 
> “If I understand you correctly, we are doing well as long as Taiwan is doing bad?” 
> 
> “Yes. Let the foreigners come in for the moment and upset the voters.” 
> 
> “But isn’t one of our biggest goals to reduce immigration? What are we going to do with the people who entered the country then after we have enough votes and political power?” 
> 
> “We can always shoot them afterwards, that is no problem, or gas them or something, whatever you like, really,” Wei waved the statement off with his hand as if it was nothing.
> 
> Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9YtCGWYYfo&ab_channel=HAKKTVEnterinMent 
> 
> Can you believe this shite exists in the 21st century?   
> Kids, no power to Nazis, stay safe, wash your hands and keep thinking positive!
> 
> All the love,  
> Annie


	2. Happy Ever After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5 ways to take care of Brett Yang and 1 to take care of Eddy Chen 
> 
> Because I wanted them to have some actual couply moments :)

1\. 

“Be careful.” 

“I am always careful.” 

“No, I mean it”, Eddy tugged Brett closer on the hem of his hoodie and set his skewed glasses straight, “be careful.” 

“I will. I promise.” 

At that, Brett gave him a sheepish smile, which made Eddy sigh and grab his face to kiss him. 

“Come back in one piece.” 

“That’s rich coming from you. You got shot three times since we got together.” 

“No permanent holes though.” 

“No”, Brett noted happily and tapped on Eddy’s chest twice, right where his heart was. The others arms came closer around his shoulders, while Brett snuck his own around Eddy’s waist. 

“Call me when you get there, don’t offend anyone and don’t get yourself killed”, Eddy said when the final call announcement was made and Brett really needed to get to his gate. 

“Likewise. Don’t track me too often.” 

“Can’t help it”, just when Brett tried to leave, Eddy pulled him back and kissed him some more, “be safe, love you, have a nice flight.” 

“Love you too!”, Brett shouted on the way to security and waved him a kiss goodbye. 

Eddy looked after him, that man in skinny jeans and a hoodie, with just a backpack strapped over his shoulder, conquering the world. 

With another deep sigh, Eddy closed his suit jacket and made his way towards the office. 

5:13am. 

The things you do for love. 

/ 

“Is that really necessary?” 

“Our sources weren’t as reliable as we thought they would be.” 

“That gives me zero peace of mind.” 

“I know”, Brett grimaced and swiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. Mexico was just too goddamn hot. 

“We’re meeting with a man tomorrow, a father. It might be a story.” 

“How many more days?” 

“Three? Four at most.” 

“So, you don’t even have a return ticket yet?”, Eddy mumbled to himself and pulled his laptop into his lap, starting to look for flights. 

“I’ll buy you one. And you’re taking that plane, no matter how far you are in that story.” 

One of the first things Eddy realised was that Brett could lose himself in whatever he was working on. It was always useful and always good material. But sometimes, he needed that push to just finish it up. 

And also, Eddy wanted him back home. 

He hated Brett running around in deadass dangerous countries. 

“I love you”, was Brett’s only response and a ridiculous warm feeling was spreading through Eddy’s chest. 

“I love you too”, he answered softly. 

“How is your work?” 

“Ah you know, same old, same old.” 

“Tough one, huh?” 

“Real puzzle this time.” 

“I am sure you can solve it. You’re smart.” 

“Thanks for the flowers.” 

“Be safe.” 

“You too.” 

2\. 

When Eddy picked him up from the airport, Brett was in one piece, but haggard and clearly tired. 

“Let me cancel work and get you home.” 

It was Eddy’s lunch break. 

Brett just shook his head but let himself be wrapped in a massive hug. 

“Go to work. I’ll be fine.” 

When they separated, there were tear tracks on Eddy’s neck, but Brett was quick to rub his eyes. With an arm around his shoulder, Eddy led him to his car. 

“Get a shower, write it down, I’ll be there as soon as I can”, was the only thing Eddy said when he dropped his boyfriend of. 

“Love you!”, Brett called after him when he drove off. 

“Love you too”, Eddy texted at a red light, not sure if Brett would even read it. 

Eddy came home way later than expected. So late, that no decent restaurant was still open and he knew exactly the state of their fridge when he left it this morning. 

So, the surprise was even bigger when he got home, following the only light towards the kitchen, only to see that Chinese takeout along with maracuja juice (his favourite) stood on the table. 

What was exactly like expected was Brett being buried deep in his laptop. He hadn’t even changed and looked like he had just sat down and never got up since then. 

Eddy took two glasses out of the cupboard, poured some juice into them and dropped down next to Brett. 

“Did you eat any of the food yet?”, he asked quietly, not sure if Brett had even noticed his return. 

“I’ll get to it in a second”, came the mumbled response. Brett’s fingers were flying over the keyboard, so Eddy carefully pushed one of the glasses into Brett’s field of vision. 

With amusement, Eddy watched how Brett’s fingers stopped and his eyes swayed towards the glass. Eddy could even pinpoint the moment that Brett realised that he hadn’t drunk anything in hours and how thirsty he actually was. 

Snickering, Eddy grabbed the food containers to warm them up. 

“I am nearly done”, Brett said, his voice clearer than before. 

“I know”, Eddy simply answered. 

Just when the microwaved pinged, Brett closed his laptop. 

When he looked up, his focus was entirely on Eddy now. 

“You look tired”, he stated and got up to help get the food out of the microwave. 

“So, do you.” 

“I’ve been awake for the majority of 48h and just dug up the nearly decomposed body of a 13-year-old while the gang who killed him was watching us from the hill as well as the father of the kid. What’s your excuse?” 

“I finally found the hint that proved the one group we’re watching as guilty so we could get the warrant, take the guys in and it turned out we prevented a train bombing, saving something around 50 to 150 lives.” 

“Fucking hell. You win.” 

“It’s not a contest, love”, Eddy said, leaning against Brett and pressing him into the kitchen counter to kiss. 

“Tell me about your day and I tell you about mine?”, Brett offered. 

“Yes. And food. And shower. Did you at least wash your hands at some point or is there grave dirt on them?” 

“Idiot”, Brett laughed and grabbed the collar of his dress shirt to kiss him some more. 

Maybe they had to reheat the food again. 

What did it matter though. 

It was 4:23am anyway. 

3\. 

“So, you’re Brett? We’ve heard so much about you.” 

“Is that so”, Brett mused, propping his chin on his hand, “what did you hear about me?” 

“Nah, nah, nah”, Eddy said, carefully dropping the Tablet with five pints on the table, “we’re not here to gossip.” 

“We love gossip though”, Nathan said and thanked Eddy for the pint. 

“As much as I love to brush my ego”, Brett scooted a bit over on his side of the booth to accommodate Eddy, “I would actually love to hear what Eddy is like at work?” 

“I reckon you know better than we do”, James huffed and everyone laughed. 

After over a year of dating and begging from Brett’s side, Eddy finally agreed to let him meet the colleagues of his squat. 

To Brett’s absolute delight, Eddy was not only working in Intelligence – he was working within a small elite group. 

And within that group, he was the one to do the outside jobs. 

“Tell me about your favourite jobs?”, Brett asked, always liking a good espionage story. 

“You know we can’t tell you.” 

“Just for personal amusement. No specifics or specs and nothing will ever find its way into a story. Promise.” 

To underline his good will, Brett put his right hand over his heart. With a sigh, Eddy grabbed his left and pulled it up, revealing the crossed fingers. 

The whole table erupted in laughter. 

“How about we tell you about one we couldn’t solve?” 

“Oh yes!”, Brett clapped excitedly in his hands. 

Brett loved a good ol’ unsolved mystery. 

Nathan launched into the story of this child pornography ring they were never able to get a real hold on and everyone went silent to listen carefully. 

Everything that had to do with children, was always a hard to digest, no matter on which side of the crime one was at. 

Halfway through the story, Eddy noticed how Brett became unusual quiet. 

“We were never able to find any evidence on the only dude we had. It was such a shame, no matter what we did, we only ever ran into dead ends”, Nathan ended, taking a final gulp of his pint. 

“I have a contact”, Brett said without preamble and Eddy’s stomach plummeted. 

“What do you mean?”, James asked. 

“I think, I know the guy you’re talking about. And I know other’s he’s hanging out with. I did an interview with them.” 

“Are you fucking serious?”, Nathan stuttered surprised with big eyes. 

“What kind of interview?”, Eddy asked hesitant. 

“I’ve never met them personally”, Brett explained, “but I was able to talk with them on a phone.” 

“How do you even find those people?”, Eddy continued, clearly exasperated. 

“I am not sure if you noticed, but I am terribly nosey and have a talent to find people who do not want to be found.” 

“And then persuade them to tell you stuff they don’t want to tell.” 

“And that, yes”, Brett answered smugly, sipping on his pint. 

“Anyway”, he continued, “I can get in contact with them. I can see if I can find anything.” 

“That would be great!”, James looked clearly excited. 

“I don’t know man”, Eddy tried to dampen the elevated mood but didn’t get very far. 

“Brett, doesn’t actually need to be in the field, he can just get in contact, try to purchase some of the stuff and we tap and record the whole thing and boom, we finally have them on record and can catch them.” 

With a heavy sigh, Eddy looked to Brett. 

He knew it was a lost battle. 

“Alright. But we talk about every little move you make. Don’t do anything on your own and we have you wired the entire time.” 

“Deal”, Brett smiled and actually shook hands with Eddy on it. 

A contributing Brett, was a happy Brett. 

What more could one want at 11:27pm on a Tuesday night. 

4\. 

“This is the best work day ever”, Brett said in between making out with Eddy, who only hummed in agreement, pulling the other closer. 

They were in their kitchen, while Eddy’s team set up the recording equipment in the living room. 

“We should probably head back”, is what Eddy was saying in the exact moment Nathan yelled, “you’re taking an awfully long time to grab some water!” 

Brett only laughed. 

A couple of weeks had past and Brett had established a secure contact with the child pornography ring. 

“Let’s continue that later”, Eddy finally said but not before pressing another kiss onto Brett’s lips and sneaking his hand one more time underneath his partners hoodie and feel the soft skin there. 

“I’m ready”, Brett said a second later in the living room, nothing of his composure giving away that he was just heavily making out with anyone. Same with Eddy. 

They were both just too good at being shifty. 

As always, Eddy was absolutely fascinated by Brett doing his thing. His journalistic thing. 

He was able to slip into different roles, very similar to Eddy when he went undercover but also very different as well. 

Eddy was looking for the hints he needed. Brett was looking at the big picture. 

Occasionally, Eddy was accompanying Brett when he went out to hunt for people. They would just hang out in bars and restaurants while they tried to track a person Brett was looking for. 

This time, Brett was being a hesitant and shy IT guy looking to fulfil his perverse fantasies. 

“But how I am sure no one will find me?”, Brett asked in a shaky voice. 

As a response, the guy on the other end explained how exactly they were able to escape the police again and again. 

After he finished, Brett could see how the entire team sighed in annoyance. At least they found the hole now. 

“And..”, Brett started again, going off the script they had assembled beforehand, “what,..what if I want the real deal?” 

“Fucking a child, you mean”, the brash answer came immediately and they all flinched by the choice of words. 

“Yes. I want that”, Brett answered without breaking character and Eddy had to take off the headphones for a moment, that he was using to listen because it was fucking a bit with his head, the whole conversation and the mental image. 

Just by watching Brett’s face, he knew that they struck gold though. 

It was another two days before they had exact locations of at least five of the members along with enough evidence to issue a warrant. 

They had them. 

The five members could lead them to the rest of ring. 

On the next pub night, Bett looked like the cat who got the cream. 

“We should just employ him”, James laughed and clinked glasses with them all. 

“No way in hell”, Eddy grumbled but pressed a kiss on Brett’s temple in reconciliation. 

“He’s drawn to too much danger already. And he’s a good journalist. He’d die without putting the story out into the world.” 

To his amusement, there was a slight blush creeping on Brett’s cheek but he also looked very pleased. 

“Thanks, love.” 

And Brett gave him an inappropriate smooch, considering they were in public. 

“Jesus, lads, behave yourself. That’s too much PDA for bleeding 2pm on a Thursday!” 

5\. 

Berta was hopping off the arm chair and jumped onto the couch. 

“Hi there”, Brett cooed and scooped the cat up into his lap. 

When Eddy returned to the living room with their hot chocolate, he was enamoured by the picture in front of him. 

“Adopting her was the right thing”, Eddy said after putting the cups down and joining Brett in petting Berta. 

“Scrawny little thing that she was when we got her.” 

“Just like you”, Eddy laughed and allowed Brett to cuddle into his side, pressing a kiss onto his hair in the process. 

“I am still a scrawny little thing. Could still pass for 21 if I wanted to.” 

“Sure, you could”, Eddy laughed and pulled Brett’s legs over his one when Berta stalked off, feeling too crowded. 

It had been a long week for the both of them. 

Brett had done a piece for the Guardian in Russia, his press ID the only thing from keeping him getting arrested and Eddy was buried deep in a cybercrime threat that was giving him a massive headache. 

But it was Saturday evening, 7pm and they were in their pyjamas and had decided to turn off their phones and just pretend to have a normal life like any other couple. 

Eddy made a point on putting on the handbrake every once in a while. 

“I never thought I could be this happy”, Brett mumbled into his neck and Eddy smiled. 

“Imagine if we wouldn’t both have snuck into a far-right old men group.” 

Brett laughed and looked up to him, Eddy meeting his eyes with an amused spark in them. 

“We wouldn’t be us, if it wouldn’t have happened in some kind of obscure way.” 

“True”, Eddy admitted and dropped a kiss on the others lips, “but sometimes it’s nice to pretend we are just like all the others out there.” 

“Without the spies, money laundering and death threats?” 

“Without that, yes.” 

It was Brett reaching up for a kiss then, his left-hand stroking Eddy’s cheekbone, pulling him even closer. 

“Yeah. Sometimes it is nice to pretend to be normal.” 

“I love you.” 

“Love you more.” 

+1 

„This one actually worries me”, Eddy mumbled at the breakfast table, his eyes glued to his tablet. 

“Stop snooping through my emails”, Brett replied without missing a beat, not even looking up from the newspaper he was reading. 

“This guy has been emailing you three times in the last month.” 

“Exhilarating.” 

“I looked him up.” 

“Of course you did.” 

“He’s Spencer’s new apprentice.” 

At that, Brett did glance up over his newspaper. Still not as worried as Eddy would like him though. 

“It was to be expected that Spencer wouldn’t keep off it for too long.” 

In an astonishing turn of events, Professor Spencer was actually not prosecuted for any of the actual violent attacks or planning. Granted, he lost his job due to his political orientation but thanks to his contacts within the group, he scored a position as a political advisor of the Party for Taiwan shortly after. 

Brett had no illusion that his documentary would change anything of the agenda from the Great Dragons for real. But it did drag them into a spotlight they weren’t comfortable with and raised awareness about some of their tactics and that was enough for Brett. 

He had accounted for the backlash he would receive and originally, he didn’t care as much as he had always intended to leave the country afterwards. 

Until he met Eddy. 

“His threats are very specific”, Eddy continued, still looking at the email from the apprentice that had been harassing Brett for the better part of the last month. 

“It’s nothing more than threats though. He doesn’t know where we live or where else he can reach me besides one of my many email addresses.” 

One of the absolute perks of being with Eddy was that Brett had entirely new opportunities to hide his private life. Because Eddy was already quite good at that for just himself but made it a mission to secure Brett’s safety on a level, he would have had no chance to do so by himself. 

“It still worries me”, the sigh leaving Eddy made Brett get up from his side of the table and get over to Eddy. 

He took the tablet out of his hand and sat sideways down on Eddy’s lap, his hands coming up to frame the others face. 

“He cannot find me. You took care of that. There is no need to worry.” 

Following that statement up with a kiss, Eddy’s hands were automatically wrapping around his waist. 

“But if it will ease your mind, I can just stay inside for a bit.” 

“It would ease my mind actually, thanks.” 

“Lucky you I have a job that lets me work from anywhere”, Brett chuckled, his thumb softly stroking Eddy’s neck. Which made the other nearly purr. 

“Be careful at work today?”, Brett asked both his arms secure around Eddy’s shoulder now. 

“I always am.” 

“I sense a lie.” 

“I always am, as much as I can be.” 

“Sounds more realistic”, Brett hummed and kissed him some more before getting up, “you’re late.” 

In comparison to Eddy, Brett rarely knew what Eddy was currently working on. 

Besides the obvious reasons of it being a risk of national security to let outsiders know, Eddy was way too aware of Brett digging deeper than he would like and getting caught in some kind of disastrous situation. 

They had that happen before and Eddy was dying a thousand deaths every time when he discovered that Brett was single-handedly meeting deadass criminals and pretend to be one of them. 

“Be safe, love you”, Brett said when he bid him goodbye at the door and Eddy only gave him a peck on the cheek in return. 

With a sigh, Eddy drove to work, already dreading the day. 

His team was working on a delicate case involving a whistle blower and potential leaks in their government security systems. 

They were hoping to catch them in the act today after they had set them a trap. It had been months of watching and observing to get to the point they were now but something about the whole thing wasn’t sitting right with Eddy. 

The briefing beforehand was good though and it was smooth sailing to get to the house of the suspect without anyone in the neighbourhood noticing. 

Watching his monitors for a bit longer, Eddy first ignored his vibrating phone, indicating an incoming call. 

After it rang a third time though, he got irritated because only a handful of people had the number for that particular phone and most of them knew that there was no need to call multiple times. If he didn’t answer, he was busy and he would call back at a more convenient time. 

Since he still had ten minutes before they’d enter, Eddy took the liberty to check his phone. 

All three calls were from Brett. 

Along with five texts. 

He opened the first one. 

“DO NOT ENTER. IT’S A TRAP!” 

The other texts were of similar nature and a cold shower run through Eddy. 

“Everyone hold off for a moment”, Eddy mumbled into his headset, which made the other two members of his team joining him in the van turn around and looking at him weirdly. The ones waiting in other locations just confirmed. 

Ignoring them, he turned off his headset so that no one could listen in and called Brett. 

He answered after the first ring. 

“Don’t enter!”, were the words he got greeted with. Brett’s voice had an unfamiliar sense of urgency behind it. 

“What do you know?” 

Eddy was smart enough to not argue with the statement itself. Brett always had good reasons for his actions. 

“They know you’ve got them”, Brett immediately jumped in, “for the last few days at least. There is nothing in that house but poison.” 

“What?” 

“If you enter, you will find nothing of use. The life signal you’re reading on your equipment are a hack”, Eddy’s eyes automatically went back to the monitors, indicating a living person was inside, “but every surface inside is covered in Ricin.” 

The entire team would die within three days without them ever realising they contracted it today. 

“How do you know?”, Eddy whispered, his hand dragging over his face. He started to sweat underneath his bullet proof vest. 

“It’s a bit complicated and I’d be happy to explain to you later in detail but I have a contact in the hacker community who has made me aware of the whistle-blower stuff. Three roundabouts later, I realised it’s the case you’re working on.” 

Eddy didn’t point out that Brett had no business of knowing what cases he had been working on. 

“I’ll call the people from disease control them. Thanks for saving our life's.” 

“Who would make me breakfast if you’d be gone?”, Brett tried for a joke but it fell a bit flat in both of their ears. 

To explain how Eddy obtained the information that this was a set up took a lot longer than he would have liked but when the guys in the full body suits showed up and confirmed the Ricin, they all realised what a close call this was. 

“God bless your anonym source”, Nathan said back at their headquarters, probably already assuming that Brett had something to do with it. 

Eddy wrote a thorough report without mentioning Brett’s name and hoped for his higher ups to not follow up too closely and went home at 5pm sharp. 

Brett had his arms around him before he even was through the front door and Eddy was quick to press him close. 

“Thank god you’re okay”, Brett mumbled in his neck. 

“How did you know”, Eddy asked after closing the door and letting himself be guided into the kitchen. 

Upon entering, he could only stare at their kitchen table that was plastered with papers and maps. 

“Please don’t tell me you’ve been purposefully keeping tabs on me because I will get angry about it.” 

“I didn’t”, Brett exclaimed immediately. A bit too loud for it to be actually innocent. 

“Well, not on purpose”, he added. And then, “sit down, I made coffee. And cookies.” 

“You baked?” 

“I got nervous when it took so long for you to get home.” 

“I had to write reports.” 

“I figured.” 

“You’re stalling.” 

Brett sighed and motioned for Eddy to sit down. He brought the two coffee cups over and sat down next to him. 

“You know I have a friend who can hack.” 

“Multiple friends, if I remember correctly.” 

“Yes, but”, Brett hesitated and Eddy recognised it as the guilty face that it was, “but some of them can hack into like, bank accounts and them some can hack into, well, bigger computer systems.” 

“Such as?” 

“Such as the Taiwanese Intelligence?” 

Instead of answering, Eddy just buried his head in his hands. 

“Are you fucking serious?”, came the muffled response between his fingers. 

“It’s not what you think!” 

“I am thinking that you got someone to hack into my workplace, which is a matter of national security!” 

The thing was, Eddy was genuinely angry. This was not a game and Brett had no place to poke his nose into it, for fun or work. And the fallout this could take for Brett and Eddy…he didn’t even want to consider it. 

“I knew what you were working on, because you mentioned this dude giving you a headache for hacking random ministries and other government facilities. And I came across that topic when I was researching something else but I had heard about.” 

Brett was too goddamn smart for his own good, it would get him into an early grave, Eddy was sure of it. 

“Anyway”, he cleared his throat, “it’s actually kinda unrelated to today. So, I asked my friend to keep an eye out, if there should be anything unusual going on in Intelligence.” 

“So, he was hacking us anyway?” 

“Yeah.” 

“And you didn’t think to tell me this.” 

“You’re not telling my everything about your work either.” 

“That”, Eddy was lost for words for a second, “that is literally no comparison.” 

“Is it though?”, Brett’s eyes were sharp and there was a certain expression on his face that was usually not directed at Eddy, “because don’t tell me that you’re not occasionally keeping things under wrap that the public has every right to know about.” 

“For their own safety.” 

“It is not you guy’ses decision to withdraw information from citizen that they need to know to make an informed opinion.” 

For a moment, they were just staring at each other. 

“Getting back to today”, Brett sighed and they both looked away, “he’s not doing anything. He’s just having a look around because he is curious and a good hacker. I asked him to let me know should he ever notice a threat that you guys might not be aware of. Something that could have slipped your radar.” 

“And he called you today?” 

“Thankfully, yeah.” 

Instead of answering, Eddy just looked ahead. 

“I’m sorry”, Brett mumbled and softly laid his hand on his upper arm. 

“I think I need a moment.” 

“Okay”, Brett answered, not showing if those words hurt him, “I’ll go and do the grocery shopping we were putting off all week.” 

Eddy didn’t look up when Brett grabbed his coat and left the house. 

Ten minutes later, Eddy got up himself and followed him. 

When he arrived at the supermarket, he spotted Brett straight away in the chocolate aisle. Having Eddy’s favourite chocolate bar in his hand, looking lost in thought. 

Without any further introduction, Eddy walked up to him and dragged him into a hug. 

Brett was surprised but went along easily. 

For a moment, they were quiet. 

“I need to protect you too. As much as I can”, Brett said softly in the small space between them. 

A deep sigh went through Eddy’s body, so big that it shook Brett too. 

“I know”, came the response after a moment, “I know. That’s the thing.” 

He pressed a kiss on Brett’s ear, because his lips were lingering there anyway and pulled him impossibly closer. 

“I would have done the exact same.”


End file.
